Free Judgment (The Alternate Earth Series, Book 3) by S.J. West

turning. Please stop turning!” I end up screaming at the end because I suddenly find myself completely upside down and dangling feet first, with nothing except air between the ground and me.
    The dragon continues to spins through the air, mimicking Michael’s movements until I finally and completely lose my grip.
    As I enter a freefall to my doom, only one word comes to mind.
    “Crap!”
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
    Whose bright idea was it to ride a dragon? I have no one but myself to blame. Well, that’s not completely true. I have Michael, the harbinger of my doom, to blame as well!
    Speaking of the sharer of my soul, Michael appears directly in front of me and begins to flap his arms wildly, like a dying fish on hot concrete.
    In any other circumstances, I would have laughed at him, but the fact that I am only a few hundred feet from my death kind of puts a damper on my funny bone.
    “What the hell are you trying to tell me?” I scream at him, the wind whistling past my ears. Even if he could talk, I probably couldn’t have heard him.
    Michael holds out his hand to me, like he’s a real person wanting to hold hands. With his other hand, he points up. It’s obvious he wants me to go up in the sky with him, but how am I supposed to work that small miracle?
    Then, it hits me. Maybe Michael is trying to tell me that I have the power to fly.
    Well, that just sounds ridiculous, but him trying to kill me on purpose sounds just as insane.
    I begin to flap my arms but feel certain it isn’t making me fly. I probably just look like a crazy woman trying to prevent her inevitable demise.
    I look at Michael and scream, “Help!”
    Michael taps the side of his head with an index finger and then points to me.
    The only thing I can think of is that he’s telling me my ability is mental, not physical.
    How the hell am I supposed to fly my body with the power of my mind? is what I want to scream at Michael, but I’m sure he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
    It’s obvious now that when he was flapping his arms at me like a mad man, he didn’t mean I could literally fly like a bird does. But, what am I supposed to do?
    I quickly realize that I may not know how to fly but Michael does, and he’s a part of me. We’re connected to one another forever.
    “Help me!” I beg, as I let go of myself so he can save us.
    Michael vanishes from my sight. The sensation of him taking my body over is odd, to say the least.
    The instant he takes control, I feel like a passenger in the backseat of a car, just along for the ride.
    Michael flies us straight up into the air until we’re flying beside the dragon I was riding.
    Traitor , I think to myself as we continue to fly alongside it.
    I sense Michael’s amusement at my thought, but I still don’t hear his voice. I think he’s trying to use my voice to talk to me, because I feel him become frustrated after a while. Then I feel him become energized about something.
    Michael dives down to where Mason is waiting for us on the ground. As soon as my feet touch the grass, Michael relinquishes control over my body and appears beside me.
    “What happened?” Mason says, rushing up to me. “If I could die, I’m pretty sure I would have just had a heart attack!”
    Mason wraps his arms around me, as if to prove to himself that I’m actually alive. I wrap my arms around his waist, because my body is shaking so violently I need his strength to make it subside.
    “Can you tell me what happened up there?”
    I go on to tell Mason exactly what transpired.
    “Michael shouldn’t have been so reckless,” Mason says with controlled anger.
    “I think he was hoping I would fly on my own, but I just couldn’t remember how. I think he tried to talk to me after he took control of my body, too, but it didn’t work. I still can’t hear him. How was the dragon able to see Michael, when he’s supposed to be a figment of my imagination?”
    “I don’t think the dragon actually saw him,” Mason